Jean Jackets and Retro Vibes

When I was little jean jackets were cool. Everyone and their mother had at least one in the early ‘90s. By the time I was ten it was the new millennium and I gave up on the trend. No one at school would be caught dead wearing one and I wasn’t bold enough to be kid trying to keep the dying look alive. I haven’t worn a jean jacket since then.

Now that I’m in college I only come home for the summers. My old room has been left untouched in the sense that nothing has been removed. Well, my old futon has mysteriously made its way into my brother’s room while his work out bench is in its place, but other than that nothing has left my room. All my old clothes that I never wanted to bring to college are still in my closet. One day I decided to go through everything just to get rid of it. There were old sports uniforms I kept for nostalgia, old work uniforms that I kept in the hopes that I would get rehired, and clothes I haven’t worn in ages. As I was sorting through everything I discovered something lying on the floor in the corner of the closet. It was a jean jacket.

Holy cow. A jean jacket. That thing was probably sitting on the floor for a whole decade. I held it up in front of me, examining this vintage garment. It seemed boxy and stiff, just like how I remembered them. The dark gold buttons read “Old Navy” and the large tag at the collar said it was a size small. Thing is, it wasn’t a child’s small. It was an adult’s small. I fit into it perfectly. I am twenty-one and fit into a jacket that I got before I was a teenager. My mother was a huge fan of buying clothes my brother and I could grow into since we were constantly growing, but this is a bit ridiculous.

In a way, perhaps this size conundrum was a blessing. Fashion is cyclical and jean jackets are in again. It seems like fate has given me a perfect fit in the latest trend. While my fashion fairytale has a happy ending, I wouldn’t recommend you try to repeat it in your own life. Buying an item and waiting a decade or two with your fingers crossed in hopes that it will one day be in style again is insane. But giving your closet a good spring-cleaning could help you find some hidden treasures.